Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Mercy in Troubled Times
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. By the sheminith. A song of David.
6 Lord, don’t correct me when you are angry.
Don’t punish me when you are very angry.
2 Lord, be kind to me because I am weak.
Heal me, Lord, because my bones ache.
3 I am very upset.
Lord, how long will it be?
4 Lord, return and save me.
Save me because of your kindness.
5 Dead people don’t remember you.
Those in the grave don’t praise you.
6 I am tired of crying to you.
Every night my bed is wet with tears.
My bed is soaked from my crying.
7 My eyes are weak from so much crying.
They are weak from crying about my enemies.
8 Get away from me, all you who do evil.
The Lord has heard my crying.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for help.
The Lord will answer my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and troubled.
They will turn and suddenly leave in shame.
19 Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”
Naaman left Elisha and went a short way. 20 Gehazi was the servant of Elisha the man of God. Gehazi thought, “My master has not accepted what Naaman the Aramean brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I’ll run after him. I’ll get something from him.” 21 So he went after him.
Naaman saw someone running after him. So he got off the chariot to meet Gehazi. He said, “Is everything all right?”
22 Gehazi said, “Everything is all right. My master has sent me. He said, ‘Two young men just came to me. They are from the group of the prophets in the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them 75 pounds of silver and two changes of clothes.’”
23 Naaman said, “Please take 150 pounds.” He urged Gehazi to take it. He tied 150 pounds of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes. Then he gave them to two of his servants. They carried them for Gehazi. 24 When they came to the hill, Gehazi took these things from Naaman’s servants. And he put them in the house. He let Naaman’s servants go, and they left.
25 Then he came in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”
Gehazi said, “I didn’t go anywhere.”
26 But Elisha said to him, “My spirit was with you. I knew when the man turned from his chariot to meet you. This isn’t a time to receive money, clothes, olives and grapes. It isn’t a time to receive sheep, oxen, male servants and female servants. 27 Naaman’s skin disease will come on you and your children forever.” When Gehazi left Elisha, he had the disease. He was as white as snow.
28 When the men heard this, they became very angry. They shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 The whole city became confused. The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus. (These two men were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul.) Then all the people ran to the theater. 30 Paul wanted to go in and talk to the crowd, but the followers did not let him. 31 Also, some leaders of Asia were friends of Paul. They sent him a message, begging him not to go into the theater. 32 Some people were shouting one thing, and some were shouting another. The meeting was completely confused. Most of the people did not know why they had come together. 33 The Jews put a man named Alexander in front of the people. Some of them had told him what to do. Alexander waved his hand because he wanted to explain things to the people. 34 But when they saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all began shouting the same thing. They continued shouting for two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 Then the city clerk made the crowd be quiet. He said, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great goddess Artemis. All people know that we also keep her holy stone[a] that fell from heaven. 36 No one can say that this is not true. So you should be quiet. You must stop and think before you do anything. 37 You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess. They have not stolen anything from her temple. 38 We have courts of law, and there are judges. Do Demetrius and the men who work with him have a charge against anyone? They should go to the courts! That is where they can argue with each other! 39 Is there something else you want to talk about? It can be decided at the regular town meeting of the people. 40 I say this because some people might see this trouble today and say that we are rioting. We could not explain this because there is no real reason for this meeting.” 41 After the city clerk said these things, he told the people to go home.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.